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Coventry City's administration hearing adjourned but where are the shares?

The Ricoh Arena, the stadium at the centre of the dispute Photo: PA

Coventry City's rent dispute took another twist this morning as a High Court administration hearing for the club was opened and adjourned.

It follows a statement on the club's website announcing that part of the business was being placed in administration - but not the part which deals with the day to day running of the Sky Blues.

In the statement, a Coventry City spokesman said that a "non-operating subsidiary" had been placed into administration.

He said the "football club itself" was not under threat and would continue to "trade as normal".

The club at the moment is split into two companies.

Coventry City Ltd

Coventry City Holdings

Coventry City Ltd owes rent arrears of £1.3 million to its landlord, Arena Coventry Limited - last night this subsidiary arm of the club was placed into administration.

Coventry City Holdings, on the other hand, is the football club as the fans see it, paying the players wages, and selling tickets to matches.

According to bosses this is the which is free from the administrators.

It's now unclear where certain shares which allow the club to play in the Football League have gone.

If a Football Club goes into administration it loses its 'Football Shares', which it must have in order to play in the Football League under FA rules. If the shares are lost, the club is then deducted 10 points.

The question now is where Coventry's football shares are.

In the latest FA documents Coventry City Ltd had them, but lawyers for Arena Coventry Limited believe they may have recently been moved.

"If something has changed, if assets have been moved then there's some serious questions that need to be asked and that's why we went to court today and asked the High Court judge for a short adjournment so that we could ask these questions and the judge agreed"

– James Powell, Arena Coventry Limited Lawyer

If Coventry City Holdings has the Football Shares then the club can keep on going for the time being.

A statement is expected from Coventry City Football Club (Holdings) sometime this afternoon.

The Judge in this morning's High Court hearing has adjourned the case until Tuesday.

Eighth-placed Coventry travel to bottom-of-the-table Portsmouth on Saturday - a club placed into administration more than a year ago.